Beauty and the Beast

Deuxième jour - Thursday 18th June - Lascabanes to Lauzette, 23.6 klms (running total approx 46.7)

Beast is probably a bit harsh, even though the heat was rather beastly at times ...

For reasons we can’t quite fathom, even though it was much the same distance as yesterday, today's journey took a good couple of hours longer in time, and that's with a bit of cheating 😀.

As arranged Nathalie drove us back to Lascabanes around 8am and without much mucking around we hit the road. First main stop was to be Montcuq, about 9.5 klms away. First mini-stop was the rather cute little Chapelle Saint-Jean-le-Froid, and a little later we chanced upon the tiny hamlet of Le Bousquet. The good folk of Le Bousquet would seem to be somewhat peeved by the walkers on the Via/GR65, for they have placed signs at the beginning of the village asking walkers to cross the village in silence and not deface the place on the way through. First time in all my Caminos that I've seen anything similar.

A bit later we crossed the official halfway mark between Le Puy and St Jean, noting that we had 376 klms to go. But beware of the Beast ...

Montcuq, arrival time 10:45 am, is a lovely town. We wandered (well, staggered) up to the 1,000+ year old keep above the town. Unfortunately it was closed so we couldn’t clamber any further up to the top for what would no doubt have been a magic view. And I just love the history (see the link above).

We also had a good chat to Alain and Lourdes, who we had met briefly yesterday, both along the way and at Montcuq, and swapped contact details. They live right on the side of the French/Italian border. Lovely and interesting folk. It’s a Camino thing – I don't set out to meet new folk, it just happens, usually for the better. On that matter, yesterday I’d guess that there were 20 or so folk in our immediate vicinity (that is, to the nearest klm or so). Today that number had probably quartered. Whether that was the heat, or something else, who knows?

Post Montcuq was the Beauty. We chanced upon some massive rolling fields of lavender. Quite spectacular, and a wonderful aroma. It was a heartwarming sight.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7ecab3_c1f0844e23924addafd8f4fd5897ca1c/file

But after that it became a bit of a slog. We made it to the hilltop town of Montlauzan, which isn’t actually a town, but a church and a cemetery. Wiki says it has 121 residents, which looked to me to be an overstatement of about 115. But the endless climb to get there rewarded us with a cool place to eat lunch (at 2:45 pm) and a rinse/drink from the cemetery tap. Not sure that that was truly valid offset though.

The philosopher's stones were again fully on display. When I get time (i.e. not now), I might make a translated list of the 40 or so I've taken photos of.

Things went a bit awry after we left Montlauzan. We were helping a German chap find his gite for the night, and missed the turnoff marker for our own path. That resulted in us finding ourselves on a hot shadeless interconnecting road with something in the region of 6klms to go in the then 36-degree heat (and getting hotter). In places the bitumen was bubbling. We pushed on for a couple of klms, and then realised that with at least a hour to go we were entering danger territory. Sitting under a tree beside the hot road came the answer to the conundrum – Janet's suggestion - hitch a ride. My response - no thought required - hell yes. The very first car we waved down stopped, and after a bit of hilarious half-language, took us to the centre of town. Lifesavers. Our drivers - indeed everyone we speak with - told us that this heat is completely unseasonal. Normally end of July stuff. We're experiencing now more dramatic weather than we did in southern Spain at the start of the VDLP in mid-September, an area which is well known for its extremes.

And then one more mini-drama. Mini. We arrived at our lovely little apartment in the middle of the old town to find that the place hadn’t been serviced. Previous guests' unmade bed, no clean towels, no TP, dishes in sink. More half French (thanks so much for your assistance Mr G Translate), and 90 minutes later a young housekeeper arrives. After 8+ hours on the road we had already jettisoned simple hygiene and used yesterday’s towels for a shower. Eeeewww I hear some of you say 🙃.

Lauzert is a fascinating walled hilltop town, again with a 800+ year history. A couple of shots:

shortage of time

9:30 pm!!

I've many more photos, and sadly a shortage of time, so the above little sample will have to suffice.

The guide book says today was a moderate to strenuous day. Tomorrow, theoretically a further 4klms longer, is rated as just moderate. Sometime between now and the morning we have to decide whether we'll walk some or all. Weather for the next few days looks like this:

Stand by ...